3D transient heat conduction in multilayer systems - Experimental validation of semi-analytical solution

This article presents an experimental validation of a semi-analytical solution for transient heat conduction in multilayer systems. The semi-analytical solution is obtained using the heat conduction equation Green's functions in the frequency domain. These solutions are obtained after time and spatial Fourier transforms are then applied in the two horizontal directions when the space domain has no kind of discretization. The problem is recast in the time domain by means of inverse Fourier transforms, using complex frequencies to avoid aliasing. The multilayer system used in the experimental validation is built by superimposing layers of different materials whose thermal properties were previously estimated experimentally. The external surfaces of the full system are then subjected to heat variation. The generated variation of the temperature field across the multilayer system was recorded using thermocouples. The full system was also simulated using the semi-analytical solution. Comparison of the results showed that the semi-analytical solution agrees with the experimental one. (C) 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.